All six finalists for the 2016 Indianapolis Prize have devoted their lives to studying how to help conserve animal species, whether they have fur, feathers or fins. Consider the seahorse, which has been linked to promoting sexual vigor for men. A booming trade threatens its future. Other animals face a different threat: climate change. The favorite nesting areas of Galapagos penguins have been destroyed by the encroaching ocean. Musk oxen have become victims to a new predator — the polar bear, who is now increasingly land-locked.

“What we’re doing is out of passion,” said finalist Amanda Vincent.

The $250,000 biennial award from the Indianapolis Zoo does more than recognize study of the animals; it also aims to reward researchers whose work will sustain species for generations to come.

Finalists must be individuals, not organizations, and “must have demonstrated a significant accomplishment or accomplishments in improving the sustainability of a species or group of species,” said Michael Crowther, president and chief executive of the Indianapolis Zoo. “You couldn’t pick the winner of the Indianapolis Prize with a computer. It requires wisdom, experience, insight.”

In August, 28 scientists around the world were nominated for the prize. A committee of professional conservationists and zoo and community representatives winnowed that down to these six finalists, each of whom will receive $10,000. Another committee chooses the winner.

The winner will be announced in May and awarded the prize at a gala in October.

Other grants for conservation exist, but none is comparable to the Indianapolis Prize, which Crowther said has become regarded as the Nobel Prize of conservation.

“The Indianapolis Prize has become critically important to the conservation world because it acts as a lever,” he said. “What the Indianapolis Prize does is generate awareness which changes behavior, which creates more funding, which creates more scientists. All of this works together to move the needle, and if we can just change our path by a couple of degrees, we can end up with an entirely more sustainable future. And that’s what our real goal is.”